Be patient, trust democracy, coalition, former Pa. govs say

On Wednesday morning, VoteSafe and VoteSafe Pa., a  cross-partisan coalition of elections administrators and organizations, issued a statement to Pennsylvania voters, calling for patience and trust in democracy. 

The statement comes as the nation waits for election results in swing states such as Pennsylvania, where 24 percent of the votes are still uncounted. 

The Pennsylvania chapter of the coalition’s council includes four former Pennsylvania governors: Republicans Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker, and Tom Corbett, and Democrat Ed Rendell.  

The statement reads: 

The record turnout we’ve witnessed in this historic election is a sign of a healthy democracy, amidst a pandemic, no less. With millions of ballots still uncounted, our election officials deserve the time they need to verify those ballots, and voters deserve for their voices to be heard. The fundamental democratic principle of one person, one vote applies whether you visited a polling place, mailed your ballot, or dropped it in a secure dropbox. In reality, we have never had a verified winner on Election Night — just an understanding between candidates to acknowledge the forecast. 

While record turnout is promising, the true test of our democracy will be our patience as votes are verified and tallied, our ability to accept the results despite the deep political divide, and our witness of a peaceful transfer of power as we have in every election for the last 224 years. Our gratitude goes to the election administrators across the country who made great strides to ensure that their voters could exercise their franchise safely and securely.